FCL Sites Around the World: China

Click to see the Angel of FriendShip.pdf

One hundred teachers gathered in May 2009 to learn from master teachers how to better implement their Full-Circle Learning projects and strategies. This is a result of years of practice on the part of the leaders at the Hangzhou Preschool Teachers College at Zhejiang Normal University. After inviting several workshops and translating the Full-Circle Learning course materials for widespread use, the university taught the model in its programs for the past several years, incorporating strategies into its own kindergarten for 1000 students and also reaching out to teachers throughout Zhejiang province. Exchanges have taken place between American and Chinese teachers. Parents report that their children are affectionate and kind in addition to learning new skills as a result of the project.

Six Chinese principals will study Full-Circle Learning in the US in 2010. In August 2009, three new teachers were trained in the US to work in Chinese schools, to strengthen the link between FCL sites in East and West. A recent kindergarten report from translator Jacky Lee follows.

Fuyou

We are glad to tell you that our FCL project has made some new progress. In Fuyou, the kindergarten affiliated to Zhejiang University, three classes carried out a series of activities on the theme of courage, to help children solve their daily life problems such as partiality for a particular kind of food, being afraid of darkness, injection, projecting oneself before people, etc. Children made a lot of discussion and then made their own picture on ‘What is courage’, ‘What I will do when I feel scared’. And parents were surprised to find their children more and more courageous in many aspects.

Greentown

The Greentown Kindergarten focused on the two themes: Patience and friendship, and they went well too. On 13th, May, they collaborated with Zhejiang University to hold a teacher training workshop which attracted nearly 100 teachers. After the teaching activities, Dr. Gan made a presentation on the topic of character education. On the whole, this workshop led the new teachers to some preliminary understanding of the FCL model....We are planning to hold more workshops, which may provide more participatory experiences.

We hold seminars twice a month to discuss and fix the themes of character education, to share teaching resources and strategies, and to analyze some related problems. The teachers of our team are found to grow fast as our project goes on. They have gained much more of the pleasure of growth, and they think their efforts are worthy, despite their desire to do more field research (including classroom observation and interaction with teachers). They are pleased to receive global exchanges from their partners.